Weekday Fun

We have managed to fill every second of our weekdays with something fun! I think we're all enjoying it, but I'm not sure our house is by the looks of it. You're lucky if you make it to the kitchen without tripping over some sort of toy. Here you will find just a smidget of the activities Belle and Mark have conquered this past week. Perhaps we can fit in cleaning at some point??

Belle's weekly fun:
Lots of outdoor time....whether it's time in the sandbox, finger painting, swinging on the porch swing, or collecting bugs for the bug house.
Our little adventurous girl had been wanting to go on a bike ride so we picked a day to take her while Mark spent some time with Grammy. We rode down the Cherry Creek Trail to a pond where we fed the ducks and geese, played on the playground, and then had lunch at Johnny Rockets. She loved it!
Making silly faces and non-stop talking...
A short rest break after dancing to music.
Mark's Weekly Fun:
Mark spends his days smiling which brightens up our day and makes us forget about the messy house. Who cares when you got a cute, smiling baby to look at all day long. The best part of the day is when we wake up in the morning and he gives us the biggest smile you could ever find! Not a bad way to start the day!!
Tummy time.
Searching for mom as I sneak around the living room. He listens for my voice and when he finds me he smiles like crazy.
Chewing on his fingers. All day.
Drooling. All day.
More tummy time. He loves it. Notice more drooling.
And sleeping. For about 10 minutes, every hour. We dream of the day when he has the longer more consistent napping schedule!
Mark AND Belle's Weekly Fun:
We went to the Wildlife Experience with Grammy and enjoyed it greatly! Belle was so fascinated and wasn't sure which direction to look. Mark on the other hand, slept the entire time, other than in the movie where he smiled at Grammy most the time.

Dressing up as a cheetah...
and now an elephant...
Looking for bunnies and admiring the beautiful flowers.Belle spends much of her week taking care of Mark. Here you will find her getting him ready to go somewhere.
Making him laugh with her silly faces and some singing.
Relaxing and watching a movie with him. (Mark's not really watching. He pretty much looks around at everything other than the TV, which is good).
Playing baby with him. Mark doesn't really know what this doll is all about, but he shares in the fun.
And that about wraps it up for the week. These two make our lives so much fun! We are so lucky to have them!

Start of Summer

On Sunday we packed up a picnic dinner and headed to Jazz in the Park. Belle enjoyed sitting in her new camping chair and drinking some apple juice. Mark enjoyed sleeping most of the time in his carrier and Jamie and I enjoyed just being out on a beautiful evening socializing.
This random shirt Jamie is wearing (which he got for free) made us laugh because he actually had people come up to him and ask for a hug. Who would of thought you'd want a hug from someone you don't know? Apparently a lot of people, so Jamie was his nice self and gave them a hug.Testing out a larger chair
Just being cute in front of the camera. It's hard to get her to slow down enough to smile.
Showing off her hippo she picked from the "potty present bag." We just started potty training and the present bag has been a big hit so far. Let's hope it works. We sort of started awhile back, but we stopped because it was too close to when Mark was being born and we figured it was going to be too much of a challenge to take on at that point. She's pretty excited about it. I came up the other day after her nap and found her sitting on the potty all by herself! Mark is getting much better about hanging out without having to be held! He's starting to enjoy the swing, his bouncy chair, and back/tummy time on the floor. This is making life much easier on us, although I would still say the majority of the day you will find us lugging him around while doing chores and playing with Belle.
This is a classic Mark look with his little lips all puckered up.Enjoying the swing (for once without Isabelle hugging him, kissing him, or bringing him 80 toys. The hippo did end up in the swing with him about 15 minutes after I took this picture which made me laugh).

A Weeks Worth

Last weekend I went to Glenwood Springs to visit my sister and her kids. Isabelle, Mark, and I camped in the trailer with my parents, which Isabelle thought was extra fun. Unfortunately, Jamie couldn't come because he had to work, but he also got a whole nights sleep without a baby waking him 3-4 times :) I didn't get too many pictures, but Noah and Belle had a GREAT time playing together and Will and Mark enjoyed meeting each other for the first time.

Noah and Belle went swimming at the pool at my sister's hotel and we also went to the hotsprings pool. It was fun to watch them swim and jump into the water.
Motor boat with Nana...
Will was totally fascinated with Mark. I have never seen a baby smile and stare as much as he did. I think he's pretty excited to grow up with Mark!! These two just hung out in the stroller watching Noah and Belle and entertaining each other with their babble talk.

Noah and Belle taking a little break after playing hard at the playground.
We had a great trip and we loved watching the kids play together. They get along so well and you can tell they really love each other. The only thing that was rough was the drive home (which I am trying to erase from my memory.) Mark really wanted nothing to do with the drive back which made for an extra long drive and was really tough on me. I'm not sure he is ready for long road trips yet. I think we'll have a relaxing summer at home this year :)

Here are some photos of sisterly love. This is pretty much how Belle spends her day-constantly trying to take care of Mark. I have to say she does a pretty good job, other than when she lays on top of him to hug him about 8 times a day. She hasn't really figured out that she is quite a bit heavier than him. We're working on trying to lay next to him. She reads to him daily.

Finally, a side hug! (which came after a slight "on top, smooshing hug")Mark really loves to watch and listen to his mobile and fish aquarium in his crib. Our challenge is keeping Belle out of the crib so he can actually have some alone time.
Papa's Birthday!Belle informed us all that we forgot the party hats. A real disappoint. So, we went and searched for some new party hats which went over quite well!Belle's favorite.....chocolate peanut butter cake and her silly faces that we see quite often now!
Happy Birthday, Papa! We had a great time celebrating with you!!

Mark at 2 Months!!

Mark just turned 2 months! We have enjoyed every minute of him.

• We see tons of smiles now! Most are after he eats or on the changing table.
• He loves to take a bath and Belle loves to have him come in with her.
• He's growing quickly! I have had to do a total wardrobe change. We moved up to the 3 month clothes now. We go for his 2 month appointment Monday and we're pretty excited to see his stats.
  
• He eats pretty much non-stop, especially between the hours of 6-9 pm, which is a very rough time for us and him. He either needs to be nursing non-stop or held and bounced around for 3 hours straight. Dinner is a big blur for us lately. We're lucky if we all eat together these days.
• He LOVES the ergo carrier! This is a life saver most of the time. If he is fussy, you just throw him in the ergo and he his happy as ever.
• He loves to watch Belle. She smothers him all day long with non stop hugs and kisses which is pretty adorable.
  

So, here we have our sweet little boy at 2 months old, all smiles!!

This is a rare moment! To find him sleeping during the day on his own. Usually I can only get him to sleep in the ergo. The second I set him down on his back in his bed, he wakes up and screams. So this was a priceless day for mom!!

Mother's Day

We had a very fun and relaxing Mother's Day at home which is exactly what I wanted!! (Oh, and a quick drive by of the home we're planning on winning from the HGTV giveaway). The family surprised me with a new porch swing, some flowers for our flower boxes, and a new big pot to grow some vegetables. Here are the two shots we have of our wonderful day!
The gang putting together the swing for me.
And the final result (notice the flowers have been planted too)! It's so nice to sit out on our front patio now. We'll use it a lot more this summer since we're getting a new garage and part of our backyard will be a bit of a mess.
I couldn't ask for a better family! They give me so much love and make me laugh all the time. I feel so lucky to be a mom, especially to the best husband and to the sweetest kids on earth!!

Easter Part 2, plus some...

I finally figured out how to get the rest of the pictures from Easter. This Mac isn't so bad after all. We went to Grammy and Pepe's house for a great Easter brunch and Belle was having so much fun with Phoebe that we ended up staying for dinner too!

Here is Belle concentrating very hard on designing her Easter eggs. She was really into it. I'm pretty sure she ended up with more dye on her hands than on the eggs. We also had quite a few eggs "hatch" in her words (crack would have been more appropriate, but I thought it was cute). It was a little difficult to be gentle with the eggs.
At Grammy and Pepe's house she got to go on an Easter egg hunt around the house. She eventually found all the eggs and chicks that were hidden. This kept her very busy!
It was great to spend some time with Uncle Guy, Aunt Robin, and Phoebe. It had been awhile and we couldn't believe how much Phoebe had grown! These two are going to have a great time when they get a little older.
Hangin with Uncle Guy...
Mark enjoying some time with Auntie Robin and I enjoyed some hands free time :)Belle and Phoebe love Raggedy Ann and Andy. I think their button eyes lasted the whole week?
Belle with Graham making some grand music with their drum sticks on the patio.
After a long day, it's necessary to bathe with your cousin. Belle really wanted to get in the bath with Phoebe!! It really couldn't have been any cuter with their little buns sticking out of the water.
After Easter I dropped Belle off to play with Phoebe and I ran some much needed errands with only one child in tow. Belle had a much better time with Phoebe than being dragged along with me. Here they are at the park admiring the grass and all that comes with it.
Uncle Guy took some great shots of Belle at the park.

And we can't forget little Mark. He recently started smiling and he grins and laughs every time after he eats. We love it! He's a happy little boy as long as he gets his milk and is being held, which sounds like a pretty perfect world for a 7 week old.
My friend Katy made this adorable little man onesie for Mark. He loved showing it off, if you can't tell!